Oh What a Night! - Monday Evening in Washington D.C.

There is something to be said about dining with friends.  It's truly a great experience no matter what restaurant or time of night.  But a dining experience with crab cakes and filet mignon at one of Washington D.C.'s premier restaurants, it doesn't get much better than that.

 

On Monday evening, we attended dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill to listen to Stephen Moore speak about his time in Washington D.C. writing editorials for the Wall Street Journal about the U.S. economy.  He spoke of the richness of North Dakota with its supply of energy, the importance of luck, and some of the current problems in the U.S. government.

 

Following Mr. Moore, we heard from Bob Fealy, an extremely proud University of Cincinnati graduate.  Like any Midwesterner, Mr. Fealy spoke about his humble beginnings and his experience at UC.  He spoke about being passionate about the work you choose to undertake and to always give back when possible. 

 

Dean Szymanski was able to join us for dinner and he spoke highly of Mr. Fealy saying that he was one of those people that upon meeting really can change your life.  I think that we were all impacted by Mr. Fealy's willingness to speak to us about his success. 

 

 

On the Road Again

You know you're going to have a time in New York City when Somewhere in Brooklyn by Bruno Mars plays on the drive from Washington D.C. to The Big Apple. 

 

Somewhere, somewhere
Somewhere in Brooklyn
She's somewhere, somewhere
Somewhere in Brooklyn

 

I mean, it's close enough, right?

 

We're so sorry for the delay in posts.  The details from Washington D.C. will be posted soon as we are finishing them up on the ride to NYC.  We have just been busy having too much fun at visits, dinners, and visiting monuments that we completely ran out of time.  Thanks for your patience!

Tuesday Morning - Washington D.C.

Sorry for the delay in blog posts - yesterday was extremely busy, but we are hard at work getting updates for you!

 

This morning, we walked to the Capitol Building and were greeted by CHCA alum, Tommy Andrews.  He works for Speaker Boehner and gave us a tour of Boehner's conference room, office, and balcony.  Talk about breathtaking!  We also loved that Boehner had a picture of his desk, with a Skyline Chili menu on it of course!

 

We then moved throughout the Capitol Building and saw the inside of the rotunda and stood at the center of Washington D.C.  Apparently no one else was allowed to stand on it because it was blocked off, so we felt pretty cool!

 

After our tour finished, we met with Cynthia Herrle, Boehner's Policy Assistance.  She spoke to us about appropriations, debt and defaults, continuing resolutions, and the sequester. 

 

We then met with Rob Portman's Chief of Staff, Robert Lehman.  He concentrated his talk on Ohio and our issues, concerns, and strengths.  He assured us Cincinnati was a great place to live and work due to its location. 

 

More about our afternoon to come!  Off to the Washington Nationals game now!

 

The view from Boehner's balcony

 

Tuesday Morning

Hotel Fuse - 0.  LHP Class of 2016 - 1.

Also, happy birthday to Christina Whitaker!

Sunday in D.C.

There is nothing like a free day on a business trip in the Capitol!  While storms were in the forecast, we all had a beautiful August day in and around Washington D.C.

 

A small group of us headed out to Georgetown for the day.  We boarded the Metro from Capitol South after heading to Mass at the church right across the street from the hotel - talk about a great location!  Needless to say, we had quite a struggle trying to figure out how to purchase a Metro pass even with our cups of caffeine from a small shop around the corner. 

 

Once we finally got on the Metro, we had a relaxing ride to Foggy Bottom/GWU.  We walked around like long-lost puppies for a while, not wanting to waste our phone batteries (too many pictures to capture!)  We found M Street, lined with pale-colored townhouses and pink overflowing hanging flower baskets.  Basically it was every college girls' dream in a street.

 

Walking down M Street, what an experience!  So many brightly colored boutiques full of clothes, shoes, books, and desserts.  While the amount of high-end retail stores was a bit overwhelming, we loved trying on a variety of clothing from local merchants and chain retail stores. 

 

We stopped for lunch at J. Paul's, a open-air café after hitting up Georgetown Cupcake.  We only had to wait 20 minutes, and the afternoon cupcake snack was certainly a treat!  While the icing had melted quite a bit, we had no problems double-licking the sides of the container... See below.  Lunch was great, and soon after we headed to a small book store.  We then headed ALL the way back down M Street to head to Georgetown University (a bit of poor planning!) to visit the campus and bookstore.  While it is definitely not the #hottestcollegeinAmerica, it had great views of the Potomac River and Washington D.C. 

 

After a bit of walking around the campus, dinner was needed so we headed to The Tombs, a small college restaurant located right off campus.  Our waiter was so friendly and basically explained every menu item to us, giving his own recommendations.  He finally realized he just needed to bring a pitcher of Diet Coke since he brought refills every couple of minutes.

 

We walked down M Street once again to head to the ferry that would take us on a short cruise down the C&O Canal.  We basically had to sprint to the dock, and after we ran the wrong way, we barely made it to the boat on time!  It was a great ride, with an informative speaker.

 

What a great day!  Can't wait for tomorrow's visits with the Chamber of Commerce, PwC, and Bob Fealy and Stephen Moore. 

 

Number of Diet Coke drinks consumed today:  10 gallons.

Number of times The Tombs waiter said the food was delicious:  20.

Number of times we walked up and down M Street:  5.

 

They forgot to give us our cupcakes!

 

Street in Georgetown

Main building at Georgetown University

 

 

 

Be on the lookout for more stories from today as my classmates join in on the conversation.

Saturday in D.C.

We are here!  We arrived in D.C. after about 10 hours of traveling.  The guys picked their fantasy football teams for their league honoring Donna.  The ladies chatted, watched movies, read books, and slept.  Needless to say, we were more than thrilled to see Washington D.C.

 

We were free tonight so we took off in all different directions.  Dinner was a must, along with picture - yes, we are SO touristy.  Cupcakes, sushi, and pizza were ordered and we all had a blast.  Here are some of our pictures from tonight.  More to come tomorrow!  But in case you are wondering, this is what happens at 1:00 a.m. in Washington D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

T Minus 12 Hours

Excitement is certainly rising among my class, as in we literally cannot wait!  Exams are finished - we all survived Mike's Business Analytics class (barely) - and we can now focus on the most fun part of summer classes!  Visits are planned, Broadway tickets have been purchased, and activities have been made to fill free time. 

 

Don't believe that we're excited?  Look at what has been blowing up social media:

 

 

 

Look out Washington D.C. and New York City, the Honors-PLUS Class of 2016 is ready to take over!

Want to follow on Twitter?  The official hashtag is #LHPtravelsDCNYC